The Blush on Her Cheeks
by LilyGinnyBlack
Summary: SPOILERS FOR THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF ENCORE! "And once again his mind was asking his heart, 'Why are you attracted to this girl again'" Kairi takes Yaya out for her birthday. Kairi/Yaya, Kaiya, Yairi, one-shot


_**The Blush on Her Cheeks**_

_**By:**__LilyGinnyBlack_

**Disclaimer: Nothing within this fanfic belongs to me. Not the characters, settings, or etc. They all belong ©Peach-Pit and Satelight.**

**WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF **_**SHUGO CHARA! ENCORE!**_** Don't read if you don't want spoilers of the installment.**

_A/N: Hello everyone! ^^ I bring you all another one-shot based off the _Encore_ series. I think this should just become an expected thing now. When there is a new installment of _Encore_ there is a new one-shot done by me that either directly deals with the installment or is inspired by it. This one is a bit of a mix, though it was mostly inspired by the third installment, it does mention some events that took place in the third installment as well._

_So read at your own risk. Nevertheless, enjoy!_

-()-

There were certain things that Yaya did that drove Kairi crazy:

The way she took everything so lightly.

The way she couldn't stick to a schedule even if her life depended on it.

The way she would fill up silence with useless babble.

But then she would go and show her dedication to her friends, work so hard for them that the loyalty within her would make Kairi just want to stare at her forever. At least, that was the one thing that really attracted him to her in the beginning.

Now though…

He could remember the way her eyes lit up when she received a poppy on that day so long ago, and he could remember the deep blush on her cheeks when he called her "Yaya-senpai." Lately, those memories, fuzzy as they were, seemed to be burning themselves into his mind. Becoming clearer the longer his mind focused on them.

Perhaps it had to do with how close they had become over the years…That one school year when it was just them and Hikaru-kun as Guardians, they had worked so close together, and from there all of the times Yaya would pop by his house- those large puppy dog eyes and tiny pout perfectly in place-coercing him to watch anime set around samurai (which he secretly liked), and now he was currently spending every night at her house (or so it seemed to him) to help her in areas of study that gave her trouble.

So, of course with all of those moments together and with her graduation creeping ever closer (next year and then she would be gone)…Of course he would remember the first time he really spent time with her. Of course he would remember the way her tongue poked out of her lips just so when she was truly focused on something and of course he would remember the happiness she had expressed that day…So, so long ago.

Kairi's heart was beating fast-it had been doing that a lot lately, whenever he thought of her blushing face-and he tried to call his heart a liar (he just wanted his friend to be content), but he knew who the real liar was.

He wondered when it had happened. When had his love for Amu disappeared?

When he realized he didn't love her, just admired her.

But when had that been?

Sometime along the way, he supposed. Supposing was not something Kairi was particularly fond of though. Plans, schedules-those gave him comfort-this ambiguity was a bit unnerving and he wasn't quite ready to admit what his heart was telling him.

All he needed was a bit more time.

Time, though, was something that he no longer had.

He knew he had to tell her before she graduated. He knew he had to tell her when there was a chance for them to be together, even if it was only for a year. That's why today was going to be chance.

Today was Yaya's seventeenth birthday.

Today was his first "official" date with her.

Before he could really think about it though, he noted the time. If he didn't get a move on then he would be arriving at Yaya's house late, and that just wouldn't do. So, grabbing a small bouquet of flowers (with lots of poppies dispersed throughout) Kairi headed out the door.

-()-

Checking his watch, Kairi noted that he was right on time: it was exactly 5:00. Pushing his glasses up his nose, Kairi was faced with that brown door, which hadn't changed since he was ten years old. He took a deep breath and knocked.

Just before the door opened, he gulped. His nerves were going crazy!

The door open and Kairi was greeted by Yaya's mother. Her smiling face was framed by her long, light brown curly hair.

"Oh, hello, Kairi-kun, come on in. Yaya's been talking about you non-stop today; she's really looking forward to this. But she might be a few minutes still; she has to finish doing her hair."

Of course, he really should have figured that Yaya would mess up his schedule so quickly. Only she seemed able to do that. But Kairi did not voice any of that, instead he just nodded his head and politely walked into the house. He took a seat when offered and automatically answered yes when questioned if he wanted some tea.

The tea eventually came. So, as Kairi sat there drinking tea in a house that had, over the past year, become almost _too _familiar with, the minutes continued to tick by. Conversation with Yaya's mother consisted of nothing but the ordinary small talk, and then she excused herself when a loud cry was audible from the backyard. Apparently little Tsubasa was a very outdoorsy type of boy.

Personally, Kairi liked the idea of being to himself right then. He wanted time to think, to look over his schedule, which he knew the moment he planned it was going to get messed up…As his current predicament was displaying quite wonderfully, still…

Ideally tonight would go as thus:

A nice dinner and then a romantic movie, it wasn't anything or grand, a rather normal date.

Knowing Yaya though, his boring date would find a way to be exciting.

Nearly a half hour had passed by. His tea was long since done and Yaya's mother had yet to return. It was then that he heard the rushing of feet upon the hard wood of the stairs. The hand that securely held the bouquet of flowers unconsciously tightened around the bunch of flowers (out of nerves) and a sharp pain came from his bottom lip as he bit down on it, not wanting to gasp at the sight before him.

"Do you like it?" Her amber colored eyes held amusement as she asked him her question. At first he thought he wouldn't be able to answer. He was far too taken by her appearance. Her hair was curled (obviously that had been what had taken her so long to get ready), but the curls weren't like that of her mother's. They were large ringlets like that of a doll's. Her lips were coated with a light pink lipstick; no other makeup adorned her face. It was all rather simple, yet he thought she looked splendid. Especially the cute pink bows that tied up her curled hair into pigtails.

Apparently he was too slow in answering, because Yaya repeated her question, "Well, do you like it? Yaya know it's nothing special, just a simple skirt and long sleeve shirt, but…My mom still needs to do laundry so…" She was frowning slightly, obviously she was annoyed by the fact that her mother hadn't gotten around to doing the laundry yet.

Still, he thought that she looked perfect. "Its fine, Yaya-senpai, your outfit is very cute today, and you look very pretty." He was blushing, but it was the truth. He was positive that it was her hair: those curls…

Yaya made a small sound of alarm, "Gah! Is it really that time? Ugh, sorry Kairi. Yaya always end up keeping you waiting or making you late." She bent her head slightly to express her apology.

"It annoyed me a little, I'll admit. But I'm used to it by now. That's just how you are, Yaya-senpai." He could feel as a smile pulled at his lips.

"Oh~ you're just awful, Kairi!" Yaya complained as her lips upturned slightly as well, and she stuck out her tongue at him.

Kairi pushed up his glasses and gripped the flowers once again. "Uh, Yaya-senpai."

"Yeah?"

"H-here, I-I wanted to give these to you before we left." He stuck out his arm holding the flowers to her, his head was bent slightly. Nevertheless, he watched as Yaya smiled brightly and snatched them from his hand.

She admired them for a few seconds before replying, "They're lovely, thank you Kairi!" And suddenly her body was tackling his and her arms were wrapped around his body. The rapid beating in his heart came to an abrupt stop when she did that.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her, but his arms weren't obeying his command and he really wasn't all that good with physical contact, so by the time he decided to just go for it…she was already skipping away to grab a vase to put the flowers in. He sighed.

If he just breathed then everything would be okay.

Yaya returned rather quickly, stating that she ran into her mother who took the flowers from her and told her to "Go have some fun!"

She rushed over to him, sweeping up her pocketbook along the way, and caught his hand in her own. Kairi then found himself being dragged out of her house and into the evening light outside.

"Come on, let's go!"

And then they were gone.

-()-

"Crepes."

"What?"

"I want a crepe."

"Yaya, you can't have a crepe for dinner." Kairi felt his eyes roll, Yaya and himself had been bickering back and forth over this small issue the entire time they made their way into downtown Tokyo.

Glancing over at the girl who hand was still softly in his own, Kairi saw the beginnings of _those_. Those eyes that would tear up just a little…and he always fell for them especially when she added a little whine to her voice when she asked something of him. "B~ut Kairi," and there it was, "it's a _new_ crepe shop."

He stayed silent for a moment. There were _always_ new crepe shops; they were dotted all over Tokyo, so really this wasn't anything "new." But it _was_ her birthday…

"All right, let's go get some crepes."

Her crocodile tears, which had been forming at a rapid pace mere seconds ago, vanished with a blink of her eyes. "Yay!" Her free hand shot up into the air, her fingers curled up into a fist. It was obviously another victory on her part, another loss on his, and there was another strike against his poor, poor schedule.

-()-

He had to concentrate. A little to the left, then forward just so-ah-now back just a bit, and-yes!

It had taken numerous amount of change, numerous amounts of failures, and numerous amounts of minutes in order for him to successful win the small stuffed duckling from those evil, evil claw machines. And those minutes had set them back even _further_ on the schedule he had oh-so carefully planned out in his head.

It was to be expected though; all it had taken was for Yaya to see the adorable, little duckling in the claw machine as they finished off their crepes and were headed towards the movie theater. Then all she had to do was a small amount of begging and the rest was history, as they say.

As he handed the stuffed animal over to her, he took in the sight of her shut and scrunched up eyes and the dimples that showed when grinned happily like that.

Though Yaya didn't resume holding Kairi's hand as they continued on to the movie theater, she did hold the stuffed duck so closely and tightly to her chest, that Kairi didn't mind at all.

Unexpectedly Yaya rushed ahead, stopped, and turned around, "Hurry up, Kairi. I want to watch a movie!" He picked up on her teasing tone and gave a tiny chuckle as he picked up the pace just so.

But it wasn't like they were going to catch the movie he had intended. No, that movie had started about an hour ago by now.

-()-

A children's movie; that was what they ended up watching, Kairi didn't have a particular problem with that, since the movie theater was nice and empty. Watching Yaya get so involved with the movie had been a nice treat too.

He was sure she liked the animated children's movie more than the movie he had wanted them to watch.

The best part of it all though had been the feel of her hand over his. She had placed her petite hand over his larger one at the beginning of the movie and kept it there the whole time. He was sure that his face was red by then, luckily the movie theater was so dark, and she was so into the movie, that she didn't notice a thing.

-()-

"So, how's your ballet going?" Kairi started up the conversation as they left the movie theater.

Yaya's face took on a rare serious expression, and she seemed to really think about the question before answering, "It's going okay. I have a feeling that I might get the leading role this time, so I'm really excited. You'll come watch my recital, won't you?"

He nodded his head right away. Even though recitals of any kind went on for hours upon hours, he would go and support her. The others would be there as well, which would make it a nice social event for all the ex-Guardians. As he got lost in his thoughts, Yaya suddenly tugged at his T-shirt, "Did you even hear the question that I asked you?"

Honesty was the best policy, so he went with that, "No. Sorry…"

"It's okay. I was just saying that Hikaru and Ami are going out. Can you believe that!?"

Well, that hadn't been something he had expected Yaya to bring up. Not quite sure how to respond, after all, he could remember being around their age and the rather large crush he had had on Amu. So he decided to just go with a simple, "Really?"

"Yeah! Ami has this really cute sticker picture of them…" Her voice trailed off, her eyes did a sideways glance, and Kairi instantly knew that Yaya wanted to get a series of sticker pictures with him. He should have figured.

Checking around the general vicinity, Kairi easily spotted a photo-sticker booth. "Want to get one done, Yaya-senpai?"

"I'd like that." Her voice was extremely honest when she said that. The usual teasing, begging, and just plain devious tones didn't make their usual appearances. It caught Kairi off guard for a moment, but then he regained his composure and started towards the booth.

Once they were both seated, with a minuscule space between them, and the settings were all picked out and set (thanks to Yaya), Kairi wondered briefly what it was that they should do. Yaya, however was already making a face into the camera, and before he could even think to react the flash went off for the first picture.

As they prepared for the second picture Yaya scooted ever closer to the dark haired boy, and rested her head upon his shoulder. He felt himself gulp again as her breathing tickled his neck.

"Hey…Kairi?"

"…Y-yeah?"

_Flash_

The second picture was taken.

Closer. She was getting closer. "Could you look at me for a sec?"

He did. The look in her amber eyes was that mysterious seriousness again.

The third picture was going to be taken soon; it was almost as if he could hear a clock ticking the time down to when the flash would go off.

Because right when he his internal clock reached zero the flash went off for the third picture and Yaya's lips were on his.

The picture he had anticipated, the kiss he had not. And it ended far too soon for his liking. Yaya pulled away, she wasn't blushing, which Kairi found to be odd (didn't girls usually blush at moments like this?) and was heading outside to pick up the sticker photos they had just taken, but Kairi stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and she automatically sat back down again.

"Yaya." There. He had finally said her name. No stumbling, no fumbling, and no –senpai tagged on to the end of it.

Right then he was ready. Time was up and he was prepared. Especially when her face blossomed a beautiful Cherry Blossom pink at his words and her eyes widened in surprise. At last his instincts were beating out his logic and sense and his lips were on hers.

The kiss wasn't soft and brief like the previous one. It was desperate and hungry on both of their parts. How long had they both wanted to do this to the other? Probably far too long, Kairi concluded, as he heard Yaya give a small whimper. He tasted her lipstick in his mouth, it was flavored (of course) a sickeningly sweet strawberry that Kairi found himself not minding all that much. In fact, it made his desire for her rise.

It was odd; here they were, in a semi-public area, basically devouring each other. Usually Kairi would have protested against such a thing, but…

He liked her. He liked her a lot. He possibly even loved her.

So he wanted to show her that. He wanted to be like a samurai sweeping some maiden off her feet.

Reluctantly they pulled away from each other though, due to lack of air, and-both breathing deeply-just stared at each other.

"I…I r-really like you, Yaya."

"I…really like you too, Kairi."

They smiled. Fixed themselves up some, and then stepped out of the booth. Yaya quickly reached for their sticker photos and began covering her cell phone with them. Kairi just ran his eyes over the three minute sticker photos, while he was doing that Yaya broke the silence that had settled between them, "You know Kairi, I've been on a lot of dates before."

He knew that. It was one of those things that he had tried to ignore all night: the fact that Yaya was really popular with males, "But this was the best date, and best birthday that I've ever had. All those other guys were such losers. They can't compare to you. I wanted to make you jealous, so that you'd eventually take me out on a date, so I went out with all of those different guys."

Ah, he _had_ gotten jealous, but actually acting on that action was never something he thought of doing. She went on:

"Obviously I should have realized that you are not the type of person that is overly in-tune with their emotions. I'm just glad that you finally picked up on them!" By now she was laughing at him and Kairi felt offended, just a bit, but that soon passed and he was laughing with her.

It felt so good to do, laugh with her like that.

What he had decided to do-it was right.

This was what he wanted. For once his heart and mind were on the same page that was, until Yaya babbled out, "You should do ballet with me Kairi! It might be good for your agility; you know, help with your sword fighting and stuff."

And once again his mind was asking his heart, "Why are you attracted to this girl again?"

He took one look at her and knew: because of the blush on her cheeks.

-()-

_A/N: Well…This turned out to be far longer than I had planned. Oh well, it was far more fun to type this up, rather than the three essays that I now have to get cranking on._

_Anyway, I just want to make a quick note that the third installment of _Encore_ is very similar to that of the Rimahiko one. It was mostly about building up the friendship between Kairi and Yaya, as well as the individual character growths, with some pre-romance moments thrown in for good measure, which made me _uber_ happy. I've been a supporter of this pairing for a _long_ time. I'm glad to see that my assessment of their characters was on par with Peach-Pit. : )_

_Please tell me what you think of this in a review and take care! _

-LilyGinnyBlack-


End file.
